Senate Bill No. 666
(By Senator Minard)
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[Introduced February 22, 2010; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §33-2-21a, relating
to workers' compensation programs of state agencies; defining
"state agency"; designating Insurance Commissioner to manage
workers' compensation risks of state agencies; authorizing
commissioner to assess fees; creating fund in State Treasury;
authorizing investment with the Investment Management Board;
and authorizing Insurance Commissioner to propose rules,
including emergency rules.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §33-2-21a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2. INSURANCE COMMISSIONER.
§33-2-21a. State agency workers' compensation programs.
(a) For the purposes of this section, "state agency" includes
every governmental entity over whose insurance program the Board of
Risk and Insurance Management has the general supervision and
control pursuant to subsection (a), section five, article twelve,
chapter twenty-nine of this code.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, the commissioner has sole responsibility for managing the
workers' compensation risks of all state agencies and for
supervising and controlling the workers' compensation programs for
the agencies. The commissioner's authority under this section
includes, but is not limited to, the power to assess fees on state
agencies as he or she considers necessary to manage workers'
compensation risks.
(c) (1) There is established the "State Agencies' Workers'
Compensation Program Fund." The State Treasurer is the custodian
of the fund, and all premiums, assessments, deposits or any other
moneys or funds deposited or otherwise designated or accruing to
the fund as well as all earnings payable to it, shall be deposited
in the State Treasury to the credit of the fund. Expenditures from
the fund shall be for the purposes set forth in this section, are
authorized from collections, and do not revert to the General Fund.
The fund is a separate and distinct fund upon the books and records
of the Auditor and Treasurer, and disbursements from the fund shall
be made upon requisitions signed by the Insurance Commissioner.
(2) Any premiums, assessments or deposits or any other moneys or funds received for the purposes of this section shall be
invested by the State Treasurer at the request of the commissioner
with the West Virginia Investment Management Board.
(d) The commissioner may promulgate emergency rules and shall
propose for promulgation legislative rules in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code as
are necessary to provide for implementation and enforcement of the
provisions of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to delegate to the Insurance
Commissioner the responsibility for managing workers' programs of
all state agencies.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.